Over lunch, Harry Ron and Hermione talked mainly about their Defense against the Dark Arts class. Hermione was tactfully avoiding the subject of Harry's asthma, for which he was grateful. He didn't feel like going into a discussion about it right then, or ever for that matter. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy was not so thoughtful.

"Oui! Potter!" The smile on Harry's face dropped instantly, "Going muggle on us are you?" As the blonde laughed, Crabbe and Goyle joined in, crumbs falling out of their mouths and onto their robes. Malfoy growled at them to clean it up before they made a fool out of him. While the Slytherin table howled in laughter, Ron slowed down eating and Hermione put a hand on Harry's arm.

"It's not your fault, Harry, you know that."

"Yeah yeah."

Then Fred and George, the notorious Wesley twins, leaned over, wanting to know what had happened. Ginny told them to shut it, joined in by Ron, but Harry shook his head mumbling "later". Lunch was uneventful other than the Slytherin wise-cracks, and the trio made their way to Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall sat on her desk, in the form of a cat, watching her class filter in and sit down at the desks. When everyone had arrived, she jumped down, changing into her regular form. She then took out her wand and flicked the instructions on the blackboard. She then turned back to the class and smiled.

"Welcome back to Transfiguration class; I see you are all well prepared, good. Today we will be transfiguring each other."

The class as a whole gasped and moaned. This unsettled McGonagall and her smile faded.

"No more whining, now split up into pairs."

Ron and Harry, naturally, paired up. Harry inwardly smiled, remembering the charm Lei had taught him and Snape, and fighting down the urge to use it instead of regular transfiguration. Ron caught the smile and shot him a questioning look. Harry simply shook his head and pointed his wand at Ron. The gesture was returned, and McGonagall said: "When you're ready, I want one of you to transfigure the other into a rodent, whichever you prefer, as long as you can turn them back successfully."

It was decided that Harry would go first, still laughing inwardly on how entertaining it would be to see a weasel running around like an actual weasel. However, he performed the actual spell and where Ron once sat was a red and white weasel looking up at him, at himself, then back at him with laughing anger in his eyes. McGonagall went around the room, examining the handiwork of her students, nodding approvingly at Harry's job, sighing disappointedly at Neville's work of accidentally turning Seamus into a half-way job. Then the rodents were returned to their original forms and the "favor" was returned. Harry laughed when he returned from being a mouse, much to the bafflement of Ron, but he was thinking about the revenge they'd had only a few days ago it seemed on the Dursleys.

Herbology was next and uneventful with Hufflepuffs. Next was Charms, equally uneventful. Since Divination was not until after the weekend, Harry had the rest of the day off to spend with his friends and brood.

Hermione, seizing the opportunity where it was just the three of them, decided to ask the question that had been burning in the back of her mind since the beginning of the day.

"Harry, you still haven't told us how you got asthma, not really."

Then Harry did something that caught the other two completely off guard. He sighed, dropped his head, and submitted to telling his two best friends the whole story before the rest of Gryffindor came in to be warned.

"Well," Harry started, raising his head, "it all started at the Dursley's. I got the flu from waiting on Dudley head and foot, but don't think that got me out of work. And if I didn't finish my chores, Vernon beat me. In fact, he beat me even if I did finish my chores; he was drunk. Anyway, first it was breaking my wrist, then dislocating my shoulder, then apparently kicking me so hard I got appendicitis. It was horrible," Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron's faces were a mixture of utter shock and a bit of pity, as usual, "but I coped until it turned to pneumonia. I sent a message here to Hogwarts with Hedwig, asking any Professor who read it to come save me. Snape got it," Ron stuck his tongue out, "and took me here. Madame Pomfrey treated me, unfortunately there's no spell or potion to cure asthma. Anyway, Snape kept me here to care for me properly and make sure I was okay until I got some strength and weight back. So there you have it: I have asthma and no more hate for our potions master. Oh sure," noticing the vile looks from the others, "I have a dislike for him, but that only comes natural from being a Gryffindor. But I realized something over this summer, partly because of Lei: Snape has a heart, and he can live like a regular human sometimes. It's just hard to know him, that's all." Just then, Lei smiled as she came through the portrait hole. "I've been wondering when you were going to tell them, Harry. Perhaps it's only best to have waited this long though." Then, before there could be retaliation or further conversation, the tall girl went into the prefects' rooms for a bit of privacy. Hermione put a comforting hand on Harry's leg, mumbling "I'm so sorry", arousing Ron's jealousy. However, Harry had earned this pity.

Shortly thereafter, the twins came through the portrait hole, followed by Ginny, then the rest of the Gryffindors. Apparently, news had spread that Harry had a story to tell, and the common room was buzzing. This slightly irritated Harry, who shot the twins a dark look. It was returned by a laughing look mingled with curiosity. Then Harry got up and everyone shushed, slightly unnerving him. He then quickly said the general idea of what had happened, knowing that he'd be questioned about it. "I have asthma." The questions flared up instantly, Harry only listening to the ones coming from his friends, who needed to know but not everything. Ginny asked, "How?" Harry replied with a shrug, which wasn't true at all but he didn't feel like the whole house needed to know. He trusted Ron and Hermione, and Lei wouldn't tell since it wasn't her secret to tell. Fred and George asked, "When?" Harry merely said that it was over the summer, with a finality that said that he was tired of answering questions that really didn't matter anyway. He didn't want everyone's pity for what happened; he despised the thought of pity. He simply plopped down into the chair he'd recently occupied, slightly out of breath. Ron, sensing the problem, stood up and held his hands up to shush the crowd.

"You're all acting like muggle news reporters or worse, Rita Skeeter! Can't you see that he's said all he's going to say?"

Surprisingly, it got quiet and eventually everyone dispersed, leaving the twins and Ginny with the trio. Hermione shook her head in disbelief at their persistence.

"So, Harry, you never answered my question."

"And I don't intend to," his sharp tone took Ginny by surprise, "I'm sorry Ginny. It's just not for you to know, to concern yourself with. If I think the time comes that you, any of you, should know, I'll tell you. But until then, all you need to know is I got asthma over the summer."

"So why'd you tell us anyway?" George punched his twin in the arm, playfully but warningly. "Why do you think? If we pull any stunts, we gotta make sure he's not around or, well, yeah."

"Sorry guys," was all Harry could mumble before Ginny left for her dorm in a huff.